The present invention relates to an image decoding apparatus, and more particularly, to an image decoding apparatus having a frame rate transformation function in which an input image signal having a frame rate different from that of an image display device is transformed to have the frame rate of the image display device.
According to the development of recent satellite broadcasting, the satellite broadcasting of one country propagates into neighboring countries, and vice versa. Thus, it is expected that viewers would frequently view the satellite broadcasts from the neighboring countries, according to the various desires of viewers.
However, since TV receivers of each country are manufactured on the basis of each country's own TV broadcasting standard, only transmissions conforming to the broadcasting standard of a particular country can be displayed on TVs in that particular country. That is, an image signal broadcasted in accordance with one broadcasting standard cannot be viewed using a TV receiver designed for reception of a different broadcasting standard. In order to enable viewers to view a satellite broadcasting of a different standard, a broadcasting station needs to transform the frame rate of the image signal using an expensive transformation apparatus and re-record the transformed image signal The station then re-transmits the program to the TV receivers of each home in that country. In this case, only broadcasting programs whose frame rate have been transformed can be viewed. As a result, the viewers cannot freely view desired programs from different countries.
Because of the increase in satellite broadcasting, a demand has been developed for a TV receiver which can receive and display images irrespective of the broadcasting standard. This demand will be enhanced with the introduction of high-definition TV broadcasting